Easy Scratch Trees....El Cheapo....but nice. (1 Viewer)

[mikemiller1955]

I made some pretty simple......pretty fast.....very cheap....and not bad looking trees.

I used some....

1) branches in the yard....

2) a hot glue gun (which dries in seconds...literally).....

3) some Woodland's Scenic clump foilage (it's only $3.49 online for a 55 cu inch bag....enough to do 4 large trees)...you can get a bigger bag in volume cheaper and lots of different colors

4) and a coat of some matte spray when finished to adhere everything tightly in place.....they are very sturdy and don't shed now.

This was pretty easy....takes about 10 minutes to do a whole tree....and they don't look too bad.

I drilled a small hole in the bottom of the tree and glued in a small nail....so it would stick in the foam and stand up good.

I have a lot of trunks made up but ran out of foilage.

These are my first attempts....they are okay....but I know I can do much better on the next group.

Give it a try.

You know how expensive trees are.

 

[mikemiller1955]

Maybe these will show them a little better.

I'm so used to taking pictures of the figures.....I didn't show much of the trees.

 

[PolarBear]

Michael

Very nice job. You have some great supplies in your yard.

Randy

 

[thebritfarmer]

Another great craft project from Michael Thanks for sharing your tips & tricks (and of course your fab dios)

 

[Phantom Warrior]

I made some pretty simple......pretty fast.....very cheap....and not bad looking trees.

I used some....

1) branches in the yard....

2) a hot glue gun (which dries in seconds...literally).....

3) some Woodland's Scenic clump foilage (it's only $3.49 online for a 55 cu inch bag....enough to do 4 large trees)...you can get a bigger bag in volume cheaper and lots of different colors

4) and a coat of some matte spray when finished to adhere everything tightly in place.....they are very sturdy and don't shed now.

This was pretty easy....takes about 10 minutes to do a whole tree....and they don't look too bad.

I drilled a small hole in the bottom of the tree and glued in a small nail....so it would stick in the foam and stand up good.

I have a lot of trunks made up but ran out of foilage.

These are my first attempts....they are okay....but I know I can do much better on the next group.

Give it a try.

You know how expensive trees are.

They look pretty good to me

Terry

 

[Njja]

Very nice creative job Michael!

 

[marco55]

Very nice Michael.You would be surprised that many of the top miniature painters and dioramists use many things they pick up from outsideIf they don't have to buy it they don't.
Mark

 

[playsetaddict]

Mike, I'm jealous. Those are great looking tree structures. I have a terrible time finding three dimensional pieces like that around here. Great job.

Joe

 

[mikemiller1955]

Mike, I'm jealous. Those are great looking tree structures. I have a terrible time finding three dimensional pieces like that around here. Great job.

Joe

Joe...

For armatures to build your own....Chinese Boxwood Shrub has the most intricate...full...3 dimensional hardwood branch pieces....available at Walmart Garden....Home Depot.....Lowes.

I lost 5 small ones during Hurricane Ike and cut these out before putting them on the curb.

These have been sitting in my garage for over a year until I finally tried some,

 

[theBaron]

I'll second that, Mike! For anyone who has a garden or a backyard, when you do any digging and planting, look for root pieces that you can salvage. I dug up some dead evergreens a couple of years ago, and a yucca plant that had huge, tuberous roots. There were some good pieces of roots that make good bushes in 54mm or larger. I dipped them in a bucket of water to rinse off the excess dirt, then just laid them in the sun to dry. There's still some cleaning to do, once you select a piece or raw material to make a scene piece, but not too much.

Keep your eyes open outside-a friend from another forum found that the seed pods of the white birch have small pieces, not sure if they're the seeds themselves or some kind of scale that falls off the pod, but they're shaped like maple leaves. Compared to the cost of a bag of 54mm leaves from a hobby supplier, free sounds pretty good.

Even gravel and sand that you might find outside can be used. I've got a jar of white sand from "down the Joisey shore" that is very fine, and makes nice pea gravel for walkways in 54mm.

Sorry to have hijacked, Michael, just wanted to chime in

Prost!
Brad

 

[Scott]

As much as there are really good scenics available for sale out their, some of the items you pick up on the beach or yard or woods work really well.

 

[mikemiller1955]

You guys are sooooooo right.....

scraps from the yard, garden, beach......

or from anywhere.....

make the most realistic terrain available.

Manufacturers are trying their hardest to replicate them realistically enough to sell.....

while Mother Nature is giving us the "mold" on a lot of them to use free.

Who buys rocks? .............lol...........

 

[Scott]

Who buys rocks?

Sometimes you find something by accident like the packing spacers the TSSD uses for their horses.

Very light and good with the "toy" style soldiers.

 

[mikemiller1955]

I'll second that, Mike! For anyone who has a garden or a backyard, when you do any digging and planting, look for root pieces that you can salvage. I dug up some dead evergreens a couple of years ago, and a yucca plant that had huge, tuberous roots. There were some good pieces of roots that make good bushes in 54mm or larger. I dipped them in a bucket of water to rinse off the excess dirt, then just laid them in the sun to dry. There's still some cleaning to do, once you select a piece or raw material to make a scene piece, but not too much.

Keep your eyes open outside-a friend from another forum found that the seed pods of the white birch have small pieces, not sure if they're the seeds themselves or some kind of scale that falls off the pod, but they're shaped like maple leaves. Compared to the cost of a bag of 54mm leaves from a hobby supplier, free sounds pretty good.

Even gravel and sand that you might find outside can be used. I've got a jar of white sand from "down the Joisey shore" that is very fine, and makes nice pea gravel for walkways in 54mm.

Sorry to have hijacked, Michael, just wanted to chime in

Prost!
Brad

Hey Brad...if you ever pick up a handful of these....do me a favor and take a picture please.....I wanna see them...thanks.